Arsenal: It’s best to pretend like Rob Holding doesn’t exist

Arsenal’s defense needs help this summer, but Rob Holdin is the question mark. For safety’s sake, best pretend like he doesn’t even exist.

If you’re tired of me talking about this Arsenal defense, that’s just too damn bad, because I have no intention of stopping. It’s the one area that needs more help than any others, and thus it deserves our attention. Whereas the attack is super-powered and the midfield is chocked with youthful exuberance, the defense is…

Well, the defense is Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis. At least that’s what it been this year. When those two have been healthy, it’s been great. When not, it’s been… not.

Nacho Monreal is probably on his way out and Shkodran Mustafi better be, which means that, well, we still have Rob Holding, right? For the future!

This summer is a tough one to navigate for defensive transfers, and that’s because of Rob Holding. You really don’t want to block his progress, do you? Of course not.

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And in the meantime, Koscielny and Sokratis aren’t gone yet, and they are reliable as can be. They are the two great defenders that this team needs to build around, but being over 30 with Koscielny only having a year left and not many more in Sokratis, you really can’t.

You can build around Holding, but Holding still has a lot to prove.  This was a big year from him, and he missed it, at no fault of his own of course.

He’s the biggest question mark in the summer transfer plans. How much do you actually trust him?

Frankly, it’s not even about that. It’s about security. Have you noticed how little security we have with just two great defenders? In case you haven’t, let me answer – not a lot.

We need two great defenders, or young defenders that can grow into that role. Because then you aren’t relying on Holding to be anything other than what he naturally grows into. He can be the Nacho Monreal of the current back three, always a spot, but not as urgently required as the other two.

Of course, the other snag is that Sokratis and Koscielny probably aren’t leaving right away, but as the midfield situation has shown us, you can never be too prepared.

It’s not an insult to Holding, or a lack of faith. It’s practicality. He’s still getting what he needs and, if nothing else, it will prompt him to get better.